Tag Archives: FDR Memorial

Eleanor Roosevelt: Champion For All

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These little girls were mugging for their mom’s camera at the feet of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The statue is part of the FDR Memorial in Washington.

No memorial to this President would be complete without a nod to his wife, the longest serving First Lady in US history.

She is widely known for her humanitarian efforts and for her advocacy for women. On a long list of firsts and accomplishments, one that speaks to me is that she was the first First Lady to hold her own press conferences.

Additionally, attendance was restricted to female reporters. This forced newspapers to hire female reporters, opening doors for women to advance in the field of journalism. This marked the creation of the White House Women’s Press Corps.

She advocated for daycares and for wage equity for women. She lobbied to ban employment discrimination based on race and ethnicity. She spoke out against Hitler and against her own husband’s policy of Japanese internment during the war.

That was all when her husband was still living and when she was forced to tone things down because of political restraints. After he passed, Mrs Roosevelt joined the NAACP Board of Directors and was appointed by President Truman to be the only woman delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.

She went on to become the first chairperson of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and she had an influential tenure here.

Mrs Roosevelt came from a background of wealth and influence. Many wealthy people today choose to look out for their own interests, gathering power and growing their own bank balances. Instead, she chose to use her resources for the good of women, minorities and human kind. She was a champion for others right up until her death in 1962.

The world would be a better place if we had more people like her.

FDR Memorial In Pictures

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Today I want to share with you some more photos from the FDR Memorial.

I was quite taken with this gentleman who sat alone here for some time. He seemed to be deep in thought. Judging from his age, I’m guessing he would have been a young child during the Great Depression. Being an incurable people watcher, I imagined that FDR was the first President he could remember or that perhaps he lost someone important during the War. Maybe he just remembered the fireside chats.

These life sized sculptures of men in a bread line are so real they are heartbreaking.

And the relief of these wringing hands is equally moving.

FDR was a man of letters whose words – both written and spoken – are a tremendous monument to the man. He respected the Presidency and carried the weight of his office with dignity and gravity.

I am grateful for that.

FDR Memorial

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In a 1936 speech, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said “the fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process in making for the enrichment for the lives of all of us.”

He said of the National parks “there is nothing so American.”

It seems fitting that our longest serving president would have his own National Park Memorial on the National Mall. While there is something to be said for them all, this is my favorite for the way it tells a cohesive story.

There are five outdoor rooms, each representing a different part of his life – the years prior to the presidency and one for each of his four terms as President.

It features four and a half tons of South Dakota red granite, 100,000 gallons of flowing water and lots of trees and greenery. Some parts feel like a sanctuary while others tell the sad, unsettling stories that marred his presidency.

Sculptures depict scenes from the Great Depression like men waiting in a bread line and others listening to a fireside chat. There’s a statue of FDR with his little dog Fala, a Scottish Terrier. His own words are inscribed in stone including the phrase “I hate war” from a 1936 speech.

There’s a nice sculpture of his wife Eleanor as well.

The original design offered no depiction of Roosevelt in his wheelchair. While he was wheelchair bound for much of his life, the American public had no idea because he worked so hard to conceal his disability.

However, the National Organization on Disability argued that he should be depicted in the wheelchair he designed for himself. They raised private funds to add it several years after the 1997 dedication in 2001.

The original memorial was designed by Lawrence Halprin, an accomplished landscape architect who had fond memories of the former President. While Halprin won the design contest in 1974, it was another twenty years before Congress awarded the funds to build it.

Incidentally, there is another Roosevelt Memorial that we didn’t visit. Its a 3x7x4 foot block of white granite that was dedicated by the living American Presidents in 1965. It is located on the lawn of the National Archives.

This was actually what Roosevelt suggested. He told his friend Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter his wishes regarding a memorial. Justice Frankfurter recalled the 1941 conversation:

If any memorial is erected to me, I know exactly what I should like it to be. I should like it to consist of a block about the size of this (putting his hand on his desk) and placed in the center of that green plot in front of the Archives Building. I don’t care what it is made of, whether limestone or granite or whatnot, but I want it plain without any ornamentation, with the simple carving, In Memory of….

I can’t help but wonder what he would have to say about this stunning place of natural elements and well thought design that tells the story of his presidency so beautifully.

I hope he would be pleased. As a pet lover, I’m guessing he would be most glad to see his little Fala included by his side.